His Excellency the Minister of Health and Chairman of the Health Sector Supervisory Committee, Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, signed today renal dialysis project agreements with Diaverum AB Company and DaVita Company. The agreements, which cover all Kingdom's region, is one of the partnership initiatives between the public and private sectors. The signing of the agreements was attended by His Excellency the Minister of Economy and Planning Mr. Muhammad Al-Tuwaijri, who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Privatization (NCP).
According to the Health Minister, the partnership lasts for five years, until 2023, with the aim of accommodating additional patients and providing them with the highest quality of therapeutic services through 63 centers in12 regions. The contract also seeks to improve the economic efficiency of MOH's facilities and to increase the rate of economic growth with the engagement of the private sector and attracting capital.
Al-Rabiah noted that the previous partnership has achieved patient's satisfaction at all centers by 90%, therefore this partnership comes as a continuation of the recent successes, pointing out to several privileges that provide and added value whereas beneficiaries can get the service while travelling inside or outside the Kingdom, as well as getting many ancillary services such as health education services and nutrition services.
The project pays a special attention to adults with chronic kidney failure, as well as kidney failure patients with hepatitis (B and C) and patients with special needs. It raises the level of therapeutic service by applying cutting-edge dialysis standards and providing specialized medical cadres at all centers and all therapeutic and diagnostic services (dialysis, medication, analysis, and vascular links). The project includes 2,038 dialysis machines at the centers, operating 6 days a week by more than 60 nephrologists and 93 specialists, as well as 104 resident physicians and 971 nursing staff with experience in renal dialysis, and without charges for all beneficiaries of the service.
For his part, Al-Tuwaijri said that this agreement with the private sector was preceded by an agreement signed with environment, water and agriculture sector and another one for independent water production project at the desalination plant in Rabegh (phase III). He added that the NCP is working diligently to implement the privatization program at the public sector with the aim of improving the service quality and increasing the private sector's contribution from 40% to 65% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
One of the most important objectives of the partnership between the public and private sectors is to facilitate the access of the beneficiaries to the service and centers across the Kingdom while taking into account the expansion of renal dialysis centers throughout the country. The engagement of the private sector is based on the quality of service, output and standards that must be adhered to, and that such partnership will create additional job opportunities in the health sector, boost operation efficiency and increase beneficiaries of renal dialysis centers, adds Al-Tuwaijri.
It is noteworthy that the NCP supports the privatization program in the Kingdom, and through partnership with targeted sectors it seeks to effectively develop and implement partnership projects between the public and private sectors that contribute to supporting and consolidating the health sector strategy.